India & Pakistan At the Brink Of Nuclear War

 By Mubarik Shah 
 

    The impetuosity with which we  begin  scolding  the others for not doing what we ourselves do not do  is,  at  times,  just  amazing.  The  world media's coverage of the  Kashmiris'  sufferings  in  the Indian-occupied Kashmir is the case in point. For quite some time, we have been severely critical of the international news  networks  for turning a blind eye to the reign of terror let loose by the  rampaging Indian soldiers on these hapless Kashmiris over the past seven years. 

    We are also angry with our own  foreign  office and diplomats abroad for failing to shake out the foreign  media  from their insensitivity to the Kashmiris' sad plight. We  even  see  the  hand  of  Zionist  and Indian lobbies in this apathy of the Western networks that otherwise profess to be the champions of human  rights  the  world  over.  But what hands are there that are  holding  back  our  own  national  media,  the  press in particular, from focusing on the  doleful  predicament  of these wronged Kashmiris? 

    No doubt, our newspapers keep  themselves  perpetually  flooded with the precious views of our intellectual elite on the issue of Kashmir, to the extent that while  outgoing  Indian  premier  I.  K.  Gujral kept crying hoarse throughout that  for  him  Kashmir  was  a  settled  issue, these distinguished personalities, undauntedly,  kept our press inundated with unsolicited suggestions to him on how to settle it. But the agony of the Kashmiris, that at this stage should  be getting far more attention does not get even half of what  our  press  expends  on the exposition of the Kashmir issue itself. In  the  process,  even  some startling reports of foreign human rights  groups,  including  the  Indian,  highlighting the saddening situation in the  occupied  territory,  have passed by without
making some big waves in our newspapers. 

Surely, our media,  to  some  measure,  is  hamstrung  in  reporting the Kashmir story by the poor news flow  from the occupied territory. Though the region's biggest corps of  foreign  media persons sits at New Delhi, yet the community, for  some  mysterious  reasons,  stays  apathetically unmoved by the bloodshed of the  Kashmiris  going  on at just a one-hour
    plane-hop  from  their  base.  At  best,   bone-dry  stories,  based  on
    questionable official handouts, keep  filtering through the community to
    the outside world. And these  reports,  predictably, do not speak of the
    killings, tortures and rapes of  the  Kashmiris  by the Indian soldiers;
    these only  talk  of  the  "wickedness"  of  the  "terrorists"  and  the
    "punishment" meted out to them by the Indian security forces. 

    But  some  of  our  own  news  establishments   have   their   Pakistani
    correspondents posted at New Delhi.  Obviously, they cannot be inhibited
    the way their  other  foreign  colleagues  are  from  reporting the real
    Kashmir story. But one hardly  comes  across  such a report from them in
    our newspapers. And this is appaling. If the PTV can reach out from here
    the Kashmiri leaders in  Srinagar  to  know  the facts or their reaction
    about some  happenings  in  the  occupied  territory,  why  can't  these
    Pakistani correspondents do it  from  New  Delhi? Irrefutably, they have
    much more scope and also far  easier  access  to sources both inside and
    outside the valley to do such stories. 

    After all, foreign  journalists  all  over  the  world  take  particular
    interest in developments of special  interest to their public back home.
    Kashmir is one such story  for  the  Pakistani  readers.  So,  only some
    imagination, initiative and  boldness  are all that are needed for these
    Pakistani correspondents based in  New  Delhi  to report on Kashmir. But
    even otherwise, our press has  been  lackadaisical  in  focusing  on the
    human tragedy  in  the  beleaguered  valley.   Hundreds  of  terrorised
    Kashmiris have fled  from  their  homes  in  the  occupied territory and
    sought refuge in Azad Kashmir, where they have been camping for the past
    several years. Everyone of  them  has  a  tragic  tale to tell. Some had
    their men killed by the Indian  soldiers;  some had their women raped by
    them; some had their youth tortured or their homes burnt. 

    This is a moving human-interest story  which no newspaper worth its salt
    would ignore. But, though those camps are hardly a three-hour drive from
    Islamabad, one has yet to see  a  moving  account  of the grief of these
    distressed Kashmiris in our newspapers. One sees them only on TV screens
    only when some foreign delegation  happens  to visit them. And the world
    seems hardly aware of them. We must  understand that such pathetic cases
    have a special human appeal.  They  touch  the  inner human emotions and
    arouse spontaneous sympathetic response. And these have, thus, been used
    by different peoples on different occasions to mobilise the world public
    opinion. Indians  are  currently  doing  just  this  in  the case of the
    Kashmiri pundits who have left the valley  and are camping outside. Even
    though they do not  number  very  many  -  and,  according to the Indian
    press's own accounts, were not  terrorised  by the Muslim population but
    incited by the  Indian  officialdom  itself  to  leave  their homes, for
    propaganda purposes not  a  week  goes  by  when  there is not a special
    report or a feature in  one  newspaper  or  the other highlighting their
    "pathetic"  plight.  Quite  often,  the  images  of  these  pundits  are
    transmitted to foreign homes as well  by the Indian TV channels over the
    satellite. And not many weeks ago,  actor  Shatrughan  Sinha had, in his
    popular Shotgun Show on the EL-TV,  thrown  out JKLF's Yasin Malik to an
    all-too-apparently   prescreened   hostile  crowd  of  the  wholly Hindu
    participants to be ripped apart on account of these pundits. 

    In contrast, our media lost out even on such an event as the human chain
    demonstration mounted by  the  Kashmiris  in  Azad  Kashmir and parts of
    Pakistan a few weeks ago. The  event  had all the potential to publicise
    to the outside world not only the Kashmiris' struggle for their right to
    self determination but also the atrocities  being inflicted upon them by
    the Indian soldiers for demanding  this  right. But our media missed the
    chance by just failing to give it  the  required build-up. The event got
    only spot coverage, and that, too,  was  marred  by the controversy over
    the Jamaat-e-lslami's grouse that the part of demonstration organised by
    it was blacked out by the official electronic media. 

    All over the world, human  rights  groups  haveplayed  a pivotal role in
    projecting a people in distress. Through their reports, media interviews
    and statements, they keep those wronged people in the public eye all the
    time. But not own our  human  rights  groups.  Let  alone  the Kashmiris
    suffering so brutally  at  the  hands  of  the  Indian  soldiers  in the
    occupied territory, they have not even  taken notice of those camping in
    Azad Kashmir. Though these groups have been frantically reporting to the
    world, often unrealistically and  exaggeratedly,  on the lot of children
    and minorities, one has still to hear  if any of them ever visited these
    refugees and reported  on  their  pain  and  grief  to the international
    community. Is it becauseas  some  assert,  though  one  hates to believe
    itthere is no money in it? 

    In contrast, their Indian counterparts  including women groups have been
    visiting the valley quite frequently and reporting on its horrific human
    rights situation to the world community, despite being often threatened,
    abused and branded as unpatriotic  at  home. One must understand Kashmir
    issue is a hard nut that, if at  all  the Indians agree at some stage to
    discuss and resolve it,  would  take  a  long  time  to crack. But it is
    unacceptable and inhuman if  in  the  meantime  the  innocent  Kashmiris
    continue to be slaughtered. Their butchery by the Indian soldiers should
    stop. 

    For that, the world public opinion needs to be galvanized, to pressurise
    India to put a brake on the  savagery  of its marauding soldiery. And if
    in that we see a role for the worId media, we too have a part in it. And
    while we expect the others to play  their  role,  we have to start doing
    our part as well. We must know that  by focusing on the Kashmiris' grief
    we will not only be drawing  the  world  public  attention to the untold
    sufferings they have been going through  all these years at the hands of
    the Indian military but also  and  more  poignantly  to  their cause for
    which they are being made to pay so dearly in lives, respect and honour. 

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